Zotero MCP Server for Poke

An MCP server that gives Poke access to your Zotero research library. Built with FastMCP following the InteractionCo template.

Tools

Related MCP server: Zotero MCP Server

Setup

1. Copy the example env file and fill it in:

cp .env.example .env

You need:

• Library ID — the number in your Zotero profile URL, or at zotero.org/settings/keys

• API key — create one at zotero.org/settings/keys/new with read (and optionally write) access

2. Install dependencies:

/opt/homebrew/bin/python3.11 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run locally:

.venv/bin/python src/server.py

The server starts at http://localhost:8000/mcp.

Local Mode (full-text + annotations)

Set ZOTERO_LOCAL=true to connect directly to the Zotero app running on your machine. This enables:

• get_item_fulltext — extract text from PDFs

• get_item_annotations — read PDF highlights and comments

In Zotero: Edit → Preferences → Advanced → Allow other applications to access Zotero

Connecting Poke

Add this to your Poke MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or if deployed to Render, replace localhost:8000 with your Render URL.

Deploy to Render

Push this repo to GitHub, connect it to Render, and set the environment variables (ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID, ZOTERO_API_KEY) in the Render dashboard. The render.yaml handles everything else.